


lit sparklers in the night

by RedPaladin465



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Birthday, Destiny Islands (Kingdom Hearts), Fluff, Friendship, Friendship fluff ensues, Gen, His friends just wanted to keep it a secret, It's Riku's birthday, Land of Departure (Kingdom Hearts), Surprise Party, Surprises, Team as Family, They all kind of suck at lying, Twilight Town (Kingdom Hearts), bless their hearts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:54:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29209197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedPaladin465/pseuds/RedPaladin465
Summary: It's Riku's birthday, and his friends all want to ensure that they're there to celebrate with him after all they had been through together, defeating Xehanort, saving the universe, and losing Sora.There's just the small problem of keeping it secret from him.
Relationships: Kairi & Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Riku & Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Kudos: 10





	lit sparklers in the night

**Author's Note:**

> For some reason...this fic was really tough to get out. I just wanted to write these children something happy T_T
> 
> Also, Riku. Because he's my favorite character.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts

The first time Riku caught wind that something was wrong was actually because, of all people, Xion.

“School’s nice and all, but I’d much rather be out there with you guys,” she said as they walked down Station Heights, heading toward Le Grand Bistrot where she was picking up shifts for Scrooge to make more munny on the side. “It’s nice to have some sense of normalcy after everything we’ve been through, but it just feels so cramped sometimes. Everyone in class except for Roxas, Naminé, Hayner, Olette, and Pence are completely oblivious to everything that happened, and it’s hard sometimes to really connect with them.”

He shot her an amused look. “What about when you were in the Organization? What did you do when you met people from different worlds?”

Xion had the audacity to look sheepish. “Well, I didn’t have to see those people from all those different worlds every day, or sit next to them, or do projects with them. Speaking of which, why didn’t you and Sora go back to school while you were home?”

“Sora and I—” Riku began. “It would have been hard to explain. We had been gone from the Islands for so long, and with everything that happened, it was easier for us to just not go back.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Then why do Roxas, Naminé, and I have to go? You guys don’t go, and Ventus doesn’t either.”

“Ventus has Aqua. Besides, it’s easier for you guys to get plugged into a school here—people won’t ask a lot of questions about where you’ve been like they would with us. And after everything you guys have been through, normal routines are a good thing.”

“ _Ventus has Aqua_ ,” Xion mimicked playfully. “Yeah, well, we have Saïx.”

Riku barked out a laugh. They passed Market Street and onto Tram Common, making their way toward the Neighborhood. Catching the rather disgruntled look on her face, he chuckled, giving her a fond smile. “It’s not all fun and games,” he said. “Yen Sid makes sure the fairies visit us in our spare time. Who do you think has been doing all our tutoring?”

Xion laughed so hard she nearly tripped over an uneven brick. It took a few more seconds for the hilarity to subside, but once it did, she still looked at him with that amused glint in her bright blue eyes. “Say, Riku,” she started in a tone that immediately made him wary. “What do you like about Destiny Islands?”

“The Islands?” He put a hand under his chin, trying to think of a good answer. Where to start? “The smell of the ocean breeze, the sound of the waves, the memories we made there—I used to hate it, you know? Did I tell you Sora and I met Terra and Aqua when we were really young?”

She shook her head, and he pressed on. “I think it was just a pit stop on the way for them, wherever they were going. But meeting them was like a door had opened, making me realize that there were other worlds out there. That our Islands were just a small part of something greater, and I wanted to go see all of it. But I realized—I suppose you could say that it’s home for me in a wide universe.”

Xion didn’t seem satisfied with his answer. “Okay. What do you like _doing_ on the Islands? Or in general?”

Riku raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation, but then she caught the look in his eyes and hastily walked faster toward the Bistrot.

“Never mind,” she backtracked quickly. “Thanks for walking me all the way over here, even though I’m sure you have other things you need to be doing while you’re in town!” Running inside, she left a confused Riku at the door.

* * *

The second time Riku suspected something was up, it was during his time at The Land of Departure with Ventus.

“You haven’t had a tour yet, have you?” Terra asked, clapping him on the shoulder as soon as he walked out of the gummi ship. The courtyard was a tight squeeze, but with all his practice flying and parking the ship, he made it work—and he made sure not to damage the hull further; the ship was scratched up enough with all Sora, Donald, and Goofy had done in it. The King had left it for him in the search for Sora, and in case he needed to travel anywhere, a gesture which he greatly appreciated.

Terra led him up the grand stairs of what Riku knew was once Castle Oblivion, and just standing in the entrance hall made him feel warm in the same way being in the castle chilled him to his bones. Outside, the tall, grassy mountains and the flowing streams and rivers made the entire world feel alive. Inside, light streamed in through the enormous stained-glass window, painting the ground in scattered watercolor as pure warm sunshine flooded the space from the enormously tall windows.

“Wow,” he breathed. He had seen so many things on so many worlds, but Aqua, Terra, and Ventus’s home was uniquely beautiful.

Chuckling, Terra motioned farther down the hall, pointing out rooms and recounting tidbits of memories from before all of this began. It was heartwarming to see the place where, Riku considered, all their adventures started, and to see again that the world wasn’t just darkness and heartless. Walking the narrow road between darkness and light, it was harder to see the latter sometimes.

“I think Aqua wanted to speak to you about something too,” Terra said as they looped back around the entrance hall. “I’ll go find her and let her know where you are; you’re welcome to explore if you’d like.” He gave Riku a grin before walking off. Making good on his offer, Riku meandered back down the hallway, walking toward the windows when rustling in a room to the side caught his attention. Someone was muttering, something crashed, and then he was running toward the sound in case someone was in trouble and needed help—

“Where _is_ that thing?! Should I bring a frisbee? No, wait, Lea said he’s bringing one. What did Kairi say to bring again? She’s taking care of food and Xion and Roxas are bringing…and I need to find that...”

Ventus’s door was cracked open, the boy was turned so that his back faced the doorway. Riku knocked, causing him to jump in surprise, immediately whirling around.

“Riku!”

At the incredible speed that he and Roxas both seemed to share, Ventus immediately whipped his hands behind his back. Whatever he was holding was completely hidden from view.

“You okay?” Riku asked, an eyebrow raised at his startled reaction. Ventus let out a strangled laugh, like Sora who had been caught with his hand in the literal cookie jar one too many times.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry! I was—I was just looking for something,” he replied, slightly embarrassed. “But, uh, I found it!”

Riku blinked at him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Ventus made a choked noise in the back of his throat, but somehow shoved a completely unconvincing smile onto his face.

* * *

And then, there was Kairi.

It wasn’t difficult to acknowledge the blaring sirens in his head the moment he stepped into the Cove and didn’t see the gummi ship where he parked it in the garage he and Sora had fitted just before their Mark of Mastery exam, and it wasn’t hard to fit the pieces together when Kairi was literally nowhere to be found though her boat was tied at the dock. He reached out to try to feel her presence, but all he managed was that she was off-world.

Immediately pulling out his gummiphone, Riku speed-dialed Chip and Dale. Strangely, the two gummi techs were tight-lipped on the ship’s location.

“I thought there was a tracer built into the ship,” he said, confused. Dale stuck his face up to the camera, his red nose filling the screen before Chip pulled him back.

“There is!” Dale chirped, the other chipmunk pushing both hands against his mouth to stop him.

“Oops, someone’s calling us, gotta go!” Chip shrilled, just as Riku started slightly panicking.

“But Kairi doesn’t know how to—”

_But Kairi doesn’t know how to fly the gummi ship, and who knows where she might have gone_?!

They ended the call. Riku stared at the screen with only his wallpaper and apps greeting him—a picture he took of his favorite spot on the seashore at sunset, the waves gentle against the shore at that time of day—and with no further answers.

With Kairi blocking him out, he had a hunch that she wouldn’t pick up even if he called. Having nothing left to do but wait, he ducked through the tunnel that led from the star-shaped tree in the Cove back to the Seaside, untying his boat and rowing back to the main island.

* * *

The shrill ringing of his gummiphone was what woke him up from his drowsy afternoon-turned-sunset nap. His bed was pushed up just beneath the window, and the panes were open to let the sea breeze in, the calming winds and ocean scents lulling him to sleep. Stifling a yawn, he stretched, his shirt riding up his stomach before taking the call, putting the caller on speakerphone.

“Hello?”

“Riku!”

All traces of sleep were forgotten, Riku jolting up to a sitting position on his bed. “Kairi?!”

“Can you come meet me at the shack please? Right now?”

Her tone was urgent, sending his senses into overdrive. “I’m coming,” he told her, hanging up and slipping the gummiphone into his pocket while frantically looking around his room. There was no time to row over to the Island—there. He spotted a picture Kairi had drawn of him when they were younger, taped next to her version of Sora and herself, and summoned Braveheart, literally _shoving_ his power into his keyblade and willing a path to appear. Magic charged the air around him in response to his need to get to one of his best friends, pulling itself into a shimmering pink portal that he wasted no time putting his hand onto, letting it draw him to his destination. The shack was dark as the sun had started setting, a darkness that seemed to squeeze the air from his lungs as his mind went through all the things that had possibly gone wrong since her disappearance that afternoon.

He had already lost her twice, he had lost Sora, and he could not lose Kairi again. Running forward, Riku suddenly felt the familiar pinpricks of light in his heart just as he threw the shack door open—

“ _SURPRISE_!!”

Several firecrackers went off, startling him, but he was in too much shock to react to them, even though Braveheart nearly appeared in his hand.

His friends all stood in front of the shack door, cheering and whistling. Roxas, Xion, Axel, Naminé, Saïx, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, _Chip and Dale_ , were all clapping, Mickey launching himself straight into his arms and hugging him just like the time he and Sora made it back to Destiny Islands from the Dark Margin. Riku hugged the enthusiastic King back, barely able to keep up as Kairi appeared in front of him. “Happy birthday, Riku!” she said, a bright smile on her face. The chipmunks scurried up to his shoulders, both nudging his cheeks with their small heads.

“Yeah, happy birthday!” Goofy shouted to the side, Mickey jumping back down as the others all moved in to give him pats, hugs, and everything else in between. His eyes took in the sunset behind them, the way they decorated the seashore with lights and glass bottles and lights in glass bottles. Tables were set off to the side with drinks and food bearing the Le Grande Bistrot label, along with a bucket of unlit sparklers on the ground. Another table was next to the food, overladen with gifts wrapped in all sorts of shiny paper and ribbons.

Riku’s breath hitched as he took it all in, his friends’ weird behavior over the past week—Xion’s interest in _his_ interests and Ventus’s dubious attempt at hiding something from him—suddenly making sense.

“Guys…I…everyone…thank you,” he finally managed to say, his throat tight with emotion. Grinning, Kairi gently pushed him toward the food. Someone had spread an enormous picnic blanket on the sand, all the lights spaced out so that the entire shore was washed in warm light, the sunset’s gentle glow highlighting everything it touched. The group ate and laughed and talked, some eventually getting up to play games, gather seashells, and the like. Twilight gave way to dusk, and dusk became nightfall, Aqua bringing a cake over to the blanket and Riku sat through the age-old embarrassment of the birthday song. Somehow, though, this year, he didn’t mind.

The Islands weren’t like the other worlds where enormous towns took up most of the space; the night sky full of stars was the most visible—and beautiful—here. Sparklers were lit, everyone taking at least two at some point in the evening (and, in Axel’s case, four), a recreation of the sky above them. Riku sat back on the blanket after a competitive bout of beach frisbee with Ventus, Axel, and Roxas, leaning back on his hands and watching his friends, watching the stars above, with a fond smile. Chip and Dale had long since fallen asleep, having done their part in keeping Kairi’s excursion a secret from him and their shenanigans having tired them out. They slept burrowed in Riku’s discarded jacket, warmed next to a jar of light.

Kairi sat down next to him. “Having a good time?”

“Yeah,” he replied with a smile. “Do I have you to thank for tonight?”

“Well…” she nudged his shoulder. “Everyone came together to make it work, you know. Sorry about the gummi ship. Donald’s been teaching me how to fly it just to get ready to pick everyone up today. I know you were looking for me, probably after you found it missing,” she said, looking sheepish. “But everyone wanted to celebrate your birthday. Besides…” Kairi looked a little hesitant, a flash of hurt on her face before she forced it away. “It’s your first birthday without Sora, so…even though everyone’s hard at work trying to find him, everyone wanted to make sure you enjoyed your day.”

His aquamarine eyes seemed to glow in the dim light. “We’re going to find him, Kairi,” he told her softly, his will made of steel. “Sora won’t miss another birthday with us.”

Kairi nodded, blue fire burning in her eyes, her face filled with renewed resolve. Above them, an endless sea of stars twinkled, sending the very same light to a boy walking in the heart of an enormous city.


End file.
